NTT America, a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) and a global network of IP services, today announced the company is helping regional service providers to connect their business and residential customers voice, video and data over the quality, reliability and scope of the NTT Communications Global IP Network, as will […]

Discovery brings new type of fast computers closer to reality

Physicists at UC San Diego have created a successful rapid integration of circuits particles called “excitons” commercially operating in cold temperatures, so the possibility of a new type of extremely fast computer based on excitons closer to reality.

Their discovery, detailed this week in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Photonics, following the demonstration team last summer in an integrated circuit – a set of transistors that is the cornerstone of all electronic devices – capable of work at 1.5 degrees Kelvin above absolute zero. The temperature equivalent to least 457 degrees Fahrenheit, is not only lower than the average temperature of deep space, but achievable only in special research labs.

Now, scientists report they have succeeded in building an integrated circuit that operates at 125 degrees Kelvin, a temperature that while still a cold least 234 degrees Fahrenheit, can be easily obtained commercially with liquid nitrogen, a substance that costs about the same per liter of gasoline.

“Our goal is to create efficient devices based on excitons that are operating at room temperature and can replace electronic devices when a high speed interconnect is important,” said Leonid Butov, a professor of physics at UCSD who headed the research team. “We are still at an early stage of development. The team has only recently demonstrated proof of principle for a transistor based on excitons and research is ongoing.”

Excitons are pairs of negatively charged electrons and positively charged “holes” that can be created by light in a semiconductor such as gallium arsenide. When electrons and holes recombine, the exciton decays and releases its energy as a flash of light.

The fact that excitons can be converted into light causes excitonic devices faster and more efficient than conventional electronic devices with optical interfaces, used to calculate electron and be converted to light for use in communications devices.

“Our transistors process signals using excitons, which like electrons can be controlled with electrical voltages but unlike electrons transform into photons at the output of the circuit,” said Butov. “This direct coupling of excitons to photons allows us to link computation and communication.”
Physicists at UC San Diego have created a successful rapid integration of circuits particles called “excitons” commercially operating in cold temperatures, so the possibility of a new type of extremely fast computer based on excitons closer to reality.

Their discovery, detailed this week in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Photonics, following the demonstration team last summer in an integrated circuit – a set of transistors that is the cornerstone of all electronic devices – capable of work at 1.5 degrees Kelvin above absolute zero. The temperature equivalent to least 457 degrees Fahrenheit, is not only lower than the average temperature of deep space, but achievable only in special research labs.

Now, scientists report they have succeeded in building an integrated circuit that operates at 125 degrees Kelvin, a temperature that while still a cold least 234 degrees Fahrenheit, can be easily obtained commercially with liquid nitrogen, a substance that costs about the same per liter of gasoline.

“Our goal is to create efficient devices based on excitons that are operating at room temperature and can replace electronic devices when a high speed interconnect is important,” said Leonid Butov, a professor of physics at UCSD who headed the research team. “We are still at an early stage of development. The team has only recently demonstrated proof of principle for a transistor based on excitons and research is ongoing.”

Excitons are pairs of negatively charged electrons and positively charged “holes” that can be created by light in a semiconductor such as gallium arsenide. When electrons and holes recombine, the exciton decays and releases its energy as a flash of light.

The fact that excitons can be converted into light causes excitonic devices faster and more efficient than conventional electronic devices with optical interfaces, used to calculate electron and be converted to light for use in communications devices.

“Our transistors process signals using excitons, which like electrons can be controlled with electrical voltages but unlike electrons transform into photons at the output of the circuit,” said Butov. “This direct coupling of excitons to photons allows us to link computation and communication.”

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